Normanhurst Nursing Home

Updated 21 October 2021

The inspection

We carried out this inspection under Section 60 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (the Act) as part of our regulatory functions. We checked whether the provider was meeting the legal requirements and regulations associated with the Act. We looked at the overall quality of the service and provided a rating for the service under the Care Act 2014.

As part of this inspection we looked at the infection control and prevention measures in place. This was conducted so we can understand the preparedness of the service in preventing or managing an infection outbreak, and to identify good practice we can share with other services.

Inspection team

This inspection was carried out by two inspectors.

Service and service type

Normanhurst Nursing home is a ‘care home’. People in care homes receive accommodation and nursing or personal care as a single package under one contractual agreement. CQC regulates both the premises and the care provided, and both were looked at during this inspection.

The service did not have a manager registered with the Care Quality Commission. This means that the provider is legally responsible for how the service is run and for the quality and safety of the care provided.

Notice of inspection

This inspection was unannounced.

What we did before the inspection

We reviewed information we had received about the service since the last inspection. We used the information the provider sent us in the provider information return. This is information providers are required to send us with key information about their service, what they do well, and improvements they plan to make. This information helps support our inspections. We used all of this information to plan our inspection.

During the inspection

We spoke with seven people who used the service about their experience of the care provided. We spoke with four members of staff. We spent time observing interactions between staff and people. We reviewed a range of records, this included relevant parts of six people’s care plans and multiple medication records. We looked at staff files in relation to recruitment and variety of records relating to the management of the service.

After the inspection

We continued to seek clarification from the provider in relation to the evidence found. We spoke to five members of staff and seven people’s relatives. We contacted health professionals that regularly worked with the service.

Updated 21 October 2021

About the service

Normanhurst Nursing home is a residential care home providing personal and nursing care to up to 31 people. At the time of our inspection there were 19 people living at the home. People had a range of nursing needs and some people were living with dementia.

People’s experience of using this service and what we found

Quality assurance systems were not effective in identifying concerns. The service improvement plan needed improvement in order to be effective. Concerns that were raised around recording were actioned following the inspection by the manager and provider.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, relative meetings had stopped. Relatives did not feel involved in the running of the home and told us their views were not regularly sought through other methods. However, relatives all told us they were kept up to date on how their loved ones were.

People told us they were happy with the care they received at the home. They told us they felt safe and well cared for. We observed that staff spoke to people with kindness and spent time with them. There were enough staff to support people. Relative views on staff were mixed.

Medicines were well managed and people’s health needs were cared for. The home was very clean and infection control measures in place were effective.

For more details, please see the full report which is on the CQC website at www.cqc.org.uk

Rating at last inspection

The last rating for this service was good (published 20 December 2019).

Why we inspected

This inspection was prompted by our data insight that assesses potential risks at services, concerns raised and based on the previous rating. This enabled us to review the previous rating. We reviewed the information we held about the service. No areas of concern were identified in the other key questions. We therefore did not inspect them. Ratings from previous comprehensive inspections for those key questions were used in calculating the overall rating at this inspection.

The overall rating for the service has remained good. This is based on the findings at this inspection.

We looked at infection prevention and control measures under the Safe key question. We look at this in all care home inspections even if no concerns or risks have been identified. This is to provide assurance that the service can respond to COVID-19 and other infection outbreaks effectively.

You can read the report from our last comprehensive inspection, by selecting the ‘all reports’ link for Normanhurst Nursing Home on our website at www.cqc.org.uk.

Follow up

We will continue to monitor information we receive about the service until we return to visit as per our re-inspection programme. If we receive any concerning information we may inspect sooner.